White garnet or white jade or white jadeite?

Hi I bought something from someone on etsy. It was not what they said it was to my 100 percent belief. They agreed to let me pick something else out even if there was a chance I could have been incorrect. I picked out what the person thought was white granite from california. They found this on their property. When it came I did reachearch and white granite did not come from this part of california usa. White granite according me my reachearch does not come from usa. White jade and white jadeite does though and can look like white granite to me. Does anyone think this is white jade or white jadeite? Does anyone think this looks like jade? Thanks








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Your rock could be limestone or a silicate, or perhaps silica itself; for example a microcrystalline quartz such as chert. If it’s limestone it will fizz with hydrochloric acid, and also be scratched by quartz. Your sample lacks mica and larger crystal form so is unlikely to be white granite. Your situation reminds me of a character in Australia called “Tinaroo” Ted. Last year he was selling tourists in Alice Springs what he claimed was white garnet but what in reality was simply white quartz. When challenged he wasn’t ashamed about the deception and didn’t stay around after the sale. Maybe he missed his opportunity to sell on Etsy.

Always remember that the first test on jade is what does it feel like. At room temperature it will be cool to the touch.

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As from my experience it seams silt with some calcite due to metamorphism action.
With my XRF will be easy the composition of material.The declacaration from ETSY
from my experience is not reliable.
Happy for hlping you free.
dr. Piero Manuelli geologist and gemmologist FGA chairperson of italian ATC Gem-A (The Gemmological Association of grat Britain)

I’d agree with Ivan, it’s most likely a micro-crystalline quartz that has orangey red iron staining.

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Test it …. Take something sharp. It it scratches, not jade. You wanted to by granite?

stainless Steel left a mark on the gemstone rock. It is hard to tell if it also scratched the gemstone for me though. The rock is cold to the touch all the time.

I have a question. why does not all micro-crystalline quartz have a specific shape? most quartz has a shape to it usually. It probably is quartz. I looked again, I think the stainless steel did scratch the gemstone as well, I used the side of sissors to do it. don’t know if you pressed on the stainless steel sissors pressing harder back and forth in the same spot would count for the hardness test or not. when i did that that is when I pretty sure that is when gemstone scratched.

I just varifed the scratch again. it is defentally scratching the white rock and leaving a scratch on the stainless steel sissors at the same time! I don’t know how this could be white granite though. It could have the hardness of 8… It would have been neat if it was jadeite. I think it only has a hardness of up to 7? I did run into some mica between the rock and gemstone. it made my hands dirty a bit. I hope i am identifying this hardness test correctly!

Simple recipe. Take a magnifying glass, a hammer and chisel, and eye protection. Place rock on hard support eg concrete. Insert chisel into crevice in rock and chip off a piece. If the chip has sharp edges and has a glassy fracture it is microcrystalline quartz. If the edge is ragged and the chip shows crystalline fracture it is likely limestone or felspar. If it is jadeite it won’t fracture unless there is already a definite fracture in the rock. If unsure place the chip alone in a microwave and heat for two minutes on high. If it is jadeite it will get hot.